


It's Hard To Be The One Who Stays

by ebonyandunicorn



Category: Primeval: New World
Genre: Extended Scene, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-05
Packaged: 2017-12-04 09:26:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ebonyandunicorn/pseuds/ebonyandunicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An additional scene for ep 13. A worried Ange is joined by Ken as they wait for news of Evan, Dylan, Mac, and the Albertosaurus from the other side of the anomaly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Hard To Be The One Who Stays

A second set of running footsteps approached and Ange finally pulled her gaze from the anomaly to turn and look. She had not been expecting Ken Leeds to tear into the room, dirt on his fatigues, sweat running down his face. “I came as fast as I could,” he gasped, hurrying over to where she stood. “What happened? Did they make it?” 

“I don’t know,” Ange answered softly, turning back to the anomaly once more. “They ran through, the three of them, chasing the Albertosaurus. What happened after that… I just don’t know.” 

Ken nodded, catching his breath as he also fixed his gaze on the anomaly. “I’m sure they’ll make it,” he reassured her. “I mean… we’re still here, so they must have kept it all the same, right?” 

Ange glanced briefly up at him before returning her gaze yet again to the shimmering portal through which Evan, Dylan, and Mac had disappeared. “Maybe they did," she answered quietly. "Maybe Evan just let his wife die, again.” 

She felt Ken frown without looking at him. “You say that like you blame him.” 

“Maybe I do,” Ange retorted, her voice a little snappier than she’d intended. “Brooke was my friend as well as Evan’s wife, and I… I still miss her, every day. Back then I didn’t blame him; I was the one who supported him through his grief, who kept him from breaking down a hundred times… but I missed her too, and he never seemed to notice that. But now? Now Evan has the chance to save her, to change things, and he thinks that protecting the timeline is more important than saving a life?” 

“You know it’s more complicated than that,” Ken said. “If things don’t stay exactly as they were in 2006, everything could change. We mightn’t even be here.” 

“But this is his _wife_ ,” Ange insisted, shaking her head. “This is Brooke. He loved her so much, and yet he can’t do this for her? Ken, I watched him spend six years tearing himself up over her death. Even after all that time, his love for her was so strong that when he was hallucinating, he was willing to blow himself up just so he could kill that creature. And now he’s just going to let everything happen again the way it did the first time around! Except now it’s worse, because he’s not just standing back and watching – he’s deliberately making it happen. He’s killing her, Ken. He’s going to kill Brooke.” 

Her hands went up to cover her face as she tried so hard to hold herself together, while Ken could do nothing more than hopelessly look on. “I’m sorry,” Ange gasped, taking a deep breath and wiping her eyes before dropping her hands back to her sides. “I know that’s not right. It isn’t his fault. I know that. But it… it doesn’t seem fair. These anomalies have caused so much grief, so much pain…” She looked up at him desperately. “Shouldn’t we be able to use them to _fix_ things? What’s the point to them, if all they ever do is – is hurt people?” 

Ken’s mouth turned down at the corners sympathetically. “Maybe there isn’t a point to them,” he said quietly. “Maybe the only thing we can do is try to minimise the damage.” 

Ange laughed, short and false. “‘Minimise the damage’,” she repeated bitterly. “That sounds familiar. That’s what dealing with Evan is like; you know you’ll never change his mind, so you just try to guide him away from the path of most destruction. He’s impossible, he’s impulsive, he’s too smart for his own good…” Her voice trailed gradually into nothingness as the tears in her throat choked it away. “If he doesn’t come back,” she whispered finally, “I’ll have lost them both. Him and Brooke. To these… _things_.” 

“He’ll be back,” Ken said reassuringly, because there was nothing else he could do but remain optimistic. As much as it killed him to be so useless, it was impossible to know for sure whether Evan and the others were even still alive, let alone if they’d put the Albertosaurus back where it belonged in time. “You said it yourself: Evan is smart. He’ll find a way to save the timeline and he’ll be back before you know it.” 

“And if he’s not? If he doesn’t?” 

Ken took a breath and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, then, I guess things will change. I don’t know what that means.” 

Ange looked up at him. “Brooke might still be alive.” 

“Maybe.” He looked at the ground. “In which case…” 

It didn’t seem like a good thing to him like it did to her and that was frustrating beyond belief. “What?” she demanded, angry with him as she’d been angry with Connor. “Why is it that everyone thinks that would be such a bad thing? Do you not understand? Evan would be _happy_. He might never have discovered these anomalies. He wouldn’t have thrown himself into danger countless times. Project Magnet could have taken this over, and I wouldn’t need to be here, feeling useless again because I’m always the one who had to sit and wait and pray while he’s off getting people killed.” 

He looked at her and she wanted to slap him because his expression was too close to the one that Evan wore so often. It was the expression that said, _Ange, you’re missing something_ , and it wasn’t often that Ange felt stupid but she always did when Evan looked at her that way. She was almost used to it from him, though; he was absurdly clever. Ken, though… Well, he wasn’t exactly a genius, and she’d always thought he was fairly easy to keep up with – except on those rare occasions when he’d proved himself to be more “aggressive” than he pretended to be. 

“We wouldn’t have met,” he explained softly. 

She stared at him as the truth of that statement sunk in. It should have been easy to answer that; she should have told him straight away that saving Brooke’s life was more important than anything, but he had taken her by surprise and she still had trouble finding a response when he did that. “Oh,” she said eventually, looking back at the anomaly because it was easier to stare at that than at him when she was having a crisis. Saving Brooke’s life should have been more important than getting to know this bumbling, flustered fool of a lieutenant. For the first few months of their relationship he’d been nothing but a source of frustration to her, a science-fiction fanatic whose levels of idiocy had been a constant headache. Ange was a competent woman who liked working with competent people, and Ken Leeds was anything but. 

At least, she’d thought that at first. Over time, though, he’d somehow managed to grow on her. Evan had accepted him, which said more about him than he knew, and he had proved to be useful both in and outside of the field. She had underestimated him, and she would have apologised for it if she were the sort of person who apologised for that kind of thing. In fact, she had made her own kind of apology in recruiting him to help her with managing Project Magnet. It was, of course, purely because he was a useful person to have in her team; it had nothing to do with the fact that she had come to enjoy his company, not just as a colleague, but as a friend. 

“I’m sorry,” he said now, sticking his hands into his pockets. “Of course that’s not really important.” 

“No, it…” Ange trailed off, unsure of how to finish that sentence or what she actually wanted to say. She looked at him again, noticing for the first time the blood smeared across his cheek. “You’re hurt,” she murmured. Her fingers rose to gently brush the place before her hand fell back to her side. 

“What?” Ken touched his cheek and frowned at his fingers, seeming surprised to see the blood there. “Oh. It’s – it’s not mine. It’s Colonel Hall’s.” 

“Is he…?” 

Ken shook his head. “They took him away in a chopper. It… wasn’t looking good.” 

Ange closed her eyes briefly, willing herself not to cry. She had no real love for the colonel, but if nothing else it was another casualty to add to the long list of deaths the anomalies had caused. More of his soldiers had likely died, as well. 

“It’s why I took so long to come here,” Ken added. “I stayed with him until they took him away. It was my duty as his lieutenant, even if… we didn’t always see eye-to-eye. Technically speaking I should have remained behind to command the rest of the men, but I – I thought you might want some company.” 

Ange smiled, just the tiniest bit. Because that was the thing about Ken; he would never be a perfect soldier, he would never take orders like he was supposed to, because he knew what was really important, what really mattered, and what was really the right thing. “Thank you,” she said. “For… everything.” 

She felt his hesitation build for a full ten seconds before he put an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into his hold. “They’ll be back, Ms. Finch,” he reassured her. “You’ll see.”


End file.
